Very sad for me. I know the younger guys wont have heard of them but they were very much the soundtrack of my youth.
Lynrd Skynrd’s Billy Powell Has Died
29-Jan-2009
Written by: Mic Mell
The keyboard player died at 56 years old.
Billy Powell called 911 around 1am Wednesday from his home, outside Jacksonville, Fla. He called 911 complaining of breathing trouble. Paramedics on the scene found him unconscious and administered CPR, to no avail. The musician was pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m on Wednesday. There will be no autopsy performed. Powell has missed an appointment with his cardiologist on Tuesday and it is believed he died of a heart attack. He leaves behind a wife and four children.
Powell started out as a roadie for southern rock band Lyynrd Skynrd until 1972. While setting up the band's equipment at a gig, he sat at a piano and began playing "Freebird." They hired him on the spot. The band singed a major label deal in 1973 and the rest is history.
Lynrd Skynrd was one of the most popular southern rock bands of the 1970s and launched to legendary status when three members of the band died in a 1977 plane crash. Powell survived the crash and continued to play music with a verity of bands, including the second generation Lynrd Skynrd formed in 1987. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mioGewkWVdo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mWBoeY0AAec